Though lowly here our lot may be

Though lowly here our lot may be. William Gaskell* (1805-1884).
Written before 1860, when it was printed in the Second Edition of Ellen Coulthard’s Psalms, Hymns, and Anthems. It is the one hymn by Gaskell that has become widely known in Britain outside Unitarianism. Although it mentions ‘high work’ in line 2 and again in stanza 4, it is concerned more with the ‘work’ of the Christian life than about work itself (cf. ‘Stay, Master, stay upon this heavenly hill* by Samuel Greg*). It is a simple plea to ‘do our best’, as in stanza 4 (of 5):
To duty firm, to conscience true, However tried and pressed, In God’s clear sight high work we do, If we but do our best.
The hymn was printed in...

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